Avoiding 1200 calories but maybe it's inevitable?

sarahmbm

Hello,

Since the beginning of July I've been trying to lose weight by eating between 14000-1500 calories, but after losing two hard earned pounds, the scale isn't budging. I've been at 150 off and on for the past two weeks...

I'm not very active right now, but I am walking on the treadmill 30 minutes a day.

I don't want to go as low as 1200 b/c I hate feeling hungry, but my body isn't responding the way I thought it would when I reduced my calorie intake to 1400.

I'm a 40 y/o woman with 10-15 pounds to lose and I'm fairly muscular...

Keep with the 14-1500 and trust that the weight loss will really kick in, eventually? Or move the calorie intake down to (shudder) 1200?

Seffell

If you're carefully weighting all your intake with digital scales and therefore are sure that you are indeed eating 1500 only I would advise to stick to 1500 and wait.

When you say you haven't lost do you mean not even 1lbs?
At your weight you can expect to lose safely 2lbs per month.

Maxematics

If you only have 10 to 15 pounds to lose, you can't expect the scale to decrease every week. Water weight can easily mask any losses as well. Weight loss is not linear. You should let 4 to 6 weeks without a loss go by before you start adjusting your calorie intake.

joycooke2017

It would be a good idea to check what foods within that 1500 calorie range might need to be replaced with a lower calorie nutrient dense food. I found this to be my issue when I stalled out. I had to increase my vegetable servings. This is especially important when you cannot exercise as much as you usually do. Congrats on getting to where you are!

yirara

How tall are you? I'm only 169, 43 years old, and according to calculators my maintenance calories are 1540. Your currently TDEE might just be above 1700 if you're unlucky. Eating at a potential deficite of 200kca, this might take a while. But hey, all good things take a while

ezekielsherrard205735

Only wait

gothchiq

I went with 1200 because my maintenance is only 1400 (medically tested, not guessing). The trick to eating 1200 is making sure you get lots of nonstarchy vegetables to fill the hole, and enough protein. I don't advocate low carb but moderate carb because you want to concentrate on things that keep you satisfied longer and take up more stomach room, which means lean protein and vegetables that are low in carbs. IDK what your BMR is. If I ate 1500-1600 I would gain unless I worked out like a total beast every day.

sarahmbm

I'm 5 '5.

I'm just perplexed because the calorie king logging app has me between 1900-2200 calories for weight loss. I didn't realize that 2 pounds per month is normal if you only have ten pounds to lose. I'll try to keep that in mind. It's frustrating when you're super-disciplined but not seeing immediate results. I will try to be patient and check back in around 6 weeks. Maybe I should also NOT weigh myself daily, as it's making me feel like I'm not experiencing any significant progress....

Thank you for your wisdom, everyone!

ndj1979

You lost two pounds in three weeks, what is the problem?

shrcpr

ndj1979 wrote: »

You lost two pounds in three weeks, what is the problem?

Agree. I'm 5'4, 130, 47 and I have to net 1260 to lose half a pound a week. It sucks but that's why I exercise quite a bit. Without exercise weight loss is torture this close to goal.

dragon_girl26

It is frustrating, but keep in mind that weight loss is not linear. There are times when I lose that I don't see the scale drop for almost a month, then whoosh...2-3 lbs at once. Especially when you don't have much to lose, it is extremely unlikely you will see weekly losses on the scale like clockwork. Two weeks is not a stall or a plateau. At this point, all you can do is be patient, I'm afraid.

eyer0ll

Over .5 pounds/week is a reasonable rate of loss with only 10-15 lbs. to lose.

I'd do anything rather than going to 1200 calories/day, but that's just me. I'll take frustratingly slow loss over being miserable and feeling restricted any day.

sarahmbm

I feel the same way. I guess I'm just being impatient. Maybe the best solution is for me to weight myself once a month instead of every day. I need to see substantial progress for my own motivation...

cwolfman13

You lost 2 Lbs in 3 weeks...I don't see a problem here other than unreasonable expectations. With only 10-15 Lbs to lose, it's going to be slow...you can't reasonably expect to drop huge amounts of weight like an obese individual.

Maxematics

sarahmbm wrote: »

I feel the same way. I guess I'm just being impatient. Maybe the best solution is for me to weight myself once a month instead of every day. I need to see substantial progress for my own motivation...

That could actually make things worse. If you only weigh once a month instead of looking at your overall trend, you could end up weighing in on a day where you are holding water due to ovulation, menstruation, or some other reason and it will appear as if you didn't lose weight at all or even gained weight. The best option is to weigh in daily and record your weights on a weight trending app such as Libra for Android or Happy Scale for iOS and you will see by your trend if you're actually losing weight.

rmgnow

sarahmbm wrote: »

Hello,

Since the beginning of July I've been trying to lose weight by eating between 14000-1500 calories, but after losing two hard earned pounds, the scale isn't budging. I've been at 150 off and on for the past two weeks...

I'm not very active right now, but I am walking on the treadmill 30 minutes a day.

I don't want to go as low as 1200 b/c I hate feeling hungry, but my body isn't responding the way I thought it would when I reduced my calorie intake to 1400.

I'm a 40 y/o woman with 10-15 pounds to lose and I'm fairly muscular...

Keep with the 14-1500 and trust that the weight loss will really kick in, eventually? Or move the calorie intake down to (shudder) 1200?

I guess you don't want to give your height and weight

You lost 2lbs in 2 weeks so I personally don't think you need any help.

kshama2001

sarahmbm wrote: »

I feel the same way. I guess I'm just being impatient. Maybe the best solution is for me to weight myself once a month instead of every day. I need to see substantial progress for my own motivation...

With only 10-15 pounds to lose, you're not going to see substantial progress. You will inch your way down there.

I do weigh myself every day and have gotten used to the inevitable fluctuations. Where are you in your menstrual cycle? I gain at ovulation and right before my TOM. Because of this (and because Lyle McDonald said to) I compare myself to last month, not last week.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6846ZTBu08k&index=4&list=PLUXvX9BaxgqG9yO5XWB3gA_QshvrrcjVr

sarahmbm

This is incredibly helpful. Thanks for the link!